John Ryan

In memory of

John Ryan

-

London and Rye, UK

The Story of John Ryan and Captain Pugwash

By Isabel Ryan (John’s younger daughter)

Please see the picture gallery for explanatory illustrations.

John began drawing pirates when, as a child in the 1920s, he spent his school holidays staying on the exotic coast of Morocco where his father worked as a diplomat. At school he was encouraged to draw caricatures by the art master who was an ex-Fleet Street cartoonist, and he illustrated the school magazine.

John fought in Burma in WWII, and met his future wife Priscilla Blomfield at the Art School in London’s Regent Street Poly in 1948. By 1957 they had 3 children and many pets and - out of the necessity of earning more - John doodled and drew his first CAPTAIN HORATIO PUGWASH. Little did he know that his bumbling, greedy and not very piratical pirate character would become such a popular and beloved National Treasure! There were several series of colourful Pugwash story books, always involving the hunt for treasure, his inept crew, clever cabin boy Tom, and his arch enemy Cut Throat Jake translated into lots of languages, and a long-running strip cartoon in the weekly Radio Times.

John turned Pugwash’s adventures into animated episodes on BBC TV through the 1960s and 1970s. He developed a method of clever ‘manual animation’ using layers of cardboard and glue, pins, Indian ink and at least 3 people to work the levers. There was no budget for the more usual but costly ‘stop-frame’ animation.

John created a popular Private Investigator (beautifully drawn in black and white) called Harris Tweed for ‘Eagle’ comic, and Lettice Leefe for ‘Girl’. He invented other characters that he animated for television - 13 episodes of ‘Mary, Mungo and Midge’ for ‘Watch with Mother’ and ‘The Adventures of Sir Prancelot - a medieval knight / inventor. He wrote books about the adventures of Noah and his Ark full of animals, and retold famous Bible stories wonderfully for children. He did funny books on Space exploits, and about a confused Sussex smuggler called Mudge (or was he called Smudge?).

John Ryan and RYE

John and Priscilla became great benefactors of the town of Rye when they moved there from London in 1987. John set up his attic studio in the house where they lived, and donated his Pugwash drawings to raise money for local charities. He loved designing and painting sets for Pantomimes for the local am-dram group,Rye Players. He designed leaflets and posters for the Rye Arts Festival and the Rye Society of Artists - and for what would become the Swimming Pool Fund, among many other charities. He supported the Rye Heritage Centre, Rye Museum, Rye Art Gallery, St Mary’s parish church, St Michael’s church Playden, the Rye & District Memorial Hospital, and the RNLI.

He loved to walk his dog in Rye Churchyard and used the town as the setting for another book: Captain Pugwash and the Huge Reward.

Many thanks to the Rye Chamber of Commerce for starring Captain Pugwash in their Rye tourist guide ‘Visit Rye’ with QR codes on tourist around Rye - near the station and in car parks.

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